The Gardener
by Lone Ronin
Summary: Quatre protects his friends during WWII. 13x4
1. Prologue: Concealment

The Gardener  
  
By: Lone Ronin  
  
Summary: He had heard the doctrines on the radio and posters everywhere, "Whoever helps an enemy of the Reich shall be executed". Yet he bravely sheltered them where the Nazis least expected.  
  
Disclaimer: Started doing this for Remembrance Day, but I will write the rest, eventually. For the record, I have a Japanese friend whose grandparents were interred and many other people I know lost ancestors or had stories of how their ancestors escaped Europe or sheltered people from the Nazis. I myself didn't lose any relatives that I know of; most of my family left various parts of China, or were from the Islands. I've read numerous stories about WWII and shake my head at all the whining and bellyaching I hear from everyone these days as we ignore the very real threats that everyone seems to be sticking their heads in the sand to avoid. I hope people realize that such a conflict can always occur again if we become careless and freedom can be lost. As a very, very, wise man once said: Least we Forget.  
  
Author's notes: 13x4, First time I've ever tried an 'alternate pairing'. 13x4 is about as alternate as they get. Rated R for many, many reasons as will soon be evident (lots of gore, angst, blah, blah, blah)  
  
Prologue: Concealment  
  
I stand before you in this summer of 1943 as a liar, a thief and a fraud. To the Nazis of this complex, I am Thomas Moremer, loyal German citizen, gardener and servant to Major Treize Kushrenada. But I am really Quatre Raberba Winner, a 14 year old Polish boy, Jewish rebel, holder of forged identity documents and one who is sheltering enemies of the Reich. In short, a U-Boat; a U-Boat can hide its true nature under the water without a trace.  
  
I've buried my pre-war life back in Kozolowa Gora and maybe I'll live to reclaim it someday. But as this bloody war progresses, each day that hope fades just a little more; at the very least, I will have defied the conquerors of my homeland in some small ways. The soldiers have just finished their party, now is my chance. I know they won't miss any of the leftover food, so I tuck what I can into a box I've brought with me. They have much, but I know some who have few.  
  
Thankfully, they pay me no more attention then a chair or cup. It's not like I haven't done this before. But when you're a U-Boat, you live with a constant tension, always watching over your shoulder, not knowing if at any moment, a soldier will grab you and haul you off to the Gestapo, or worse. But I wasn't worried about being caught with food. I was far more worried about who I had hidden in the Major's office.  
  
I glance out of the corner of my eye and see Alex, a young SS trooper, watching me carefully and making no effort to hide it. Is he upset about me taking the food, or simply curious? Or does he know more about me then he's letting on? Maybe I didn't cover the vent properly, maybe one of them made a sound, maybe he was just passing by the study and saw a figure behind the grate, maybe.  
  
I pretend not to see him and finish filling the box. I have apples, bread, cheese, even part of a cake; precious treasures in these times. I hurry to the Major's office to make sure he hasn't found my secret that's far worse then taking any amount of food. I had stowed away my friends, Trowa, Duo, Heero and Wufei; a gypsy, the son of an American journalist, the nephew of a Japanese spy and a foreign student in the last place that anyone would have ever looked: the private study of a high-ranking Nazi officer.  
  
I walk down the hall to the officers' quarters. I seemed to have lost him, until I stepped over the threshold and heard a cough behind me. I turned to face Alex. Most others at this point would have simply been relieved to see the soldier's gun still in the holster, but I had fared better then most. Besides, I was tiny for my age; he could have broken me in two if he had wanted.  
  
"W-what are you doing here?" I stammered.  
  
"I have full authority to patrol this compound. What are you doing here?" he replied.  
  
"I'm Thomas Moremer, Herr Kushrenada's groundskeeper and I was just about to have lunch and then clean the Major's office."  
  
"Oh, very well." he answered and left, disinterested. I quickly locked the door and tried to slow my racing heart. I waited and listened for a few moments to see if Alex would come back. Then I hurried and opened the grate to pass the food to the others, who gratefully wolfed down the food.  
  
"You need to be more careful. It's too dangerous for you to hide us here, Quatre." said Trowa.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll come back and get you when the SS are gone."  
  
"Cheer up. I managed to pick up from my radio some Allied broadcasts this morning that the Nazis are having trouble with the Soviets."  
  
Duo was always the optimist.  
  
"How does that help us here in Ternopol? If they become more nervous, their eyes and trigger fingers will be that much more alert; bombs and bullets don't discriminate."  
  
Wufei was quite right about that. Alex and the other soldiers were keeping a careful lookout for anything suspicious.  
  
I put back the grate and as I began to clean the study, I overheard Alex discussing the latest message from the front lines with a commander, Zechs. Duo's broadcast was confirmed as I listened to Zechs ordering the subordinate not to discuss the information with the other soldiers.  
  
"I'm afraid this news may slow down our work here, Sir."  
  
"Nonsense, just a few more months and Poland will be completely free of Jews."  
  
I was barely 14, a mere child, but I wasn't naïve. I hated the Nazis for taking over my country, angry at the suffering they had caused. I had come this far, every moment that I remained alive, I defied them and kept Poland from being 'Jew free'. Even though sheltering four others was a mere drop in the ocean, I had vowed to do everything I could. But how would I sneak my friends out of Major Treize's study, and where could I hide them? 


	2. Chapter 1: In the Beginning

Chapter Summary: Quatre recalls how he went into hiding as he looks for a way to move the others to a more permanent hiding area.

Misanagi: Yes, I am working on my writing style. I got your attention in two lines? Wow, new record.

Dark Vampire: Hugs back I'm glad you like it. But I'm not in a kissing mood right now, sorry.

Relwarc: You request. I give. Aren't we all much happier now?

Author's notes: Really did my homework for this one. These dates and places were carefully researched and I even went over a few maps. I'm trying my best to make the imagery vivid while not sanitizing what people went through at that time. I had to learn such a sterile version of WWII in history class, it sucked. I think you need to read veteran's and survivor's experiences to really understand what was going on. Oddly, wasn't that hard for me to fit all the guys in and I will do my best to put them as much in character as possible.

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

I quickly cleaned the Major's office and by the time I had finished, I already had a plan. I went over it one more time and quietly assured myself that it would work. I calmed my nagging fear that I would be discovered by letting my thoughts wander for a bit. I gazed out the window of the office and noticed the flowers that someone had planted there. They reminded me of the ones Iria and I had once planted outside the front of our house and I fell to thinking of my old life.

* * *

I was born in Kozolowa Gora, Poland in the spring of 1929. I was the youngest and the only boy in a large family of 29 sisters. My parents had wanted a son and with the last of her strength, my mother had me after numerous tries and several sets of twins and triplets. My eldest sister, Iria, looked on as my mother left this world so I could enter it. She became the mother I never had.

My father's watch and jewelry shop did not make us wealthy, but it did keep us in comfortable surroundings. He always encouraged us to help others and be kind to everyone. Many of my older sisters became nurses and a couple began working for the Red Cross. Iria was very clever and taught me different languages. I think my father dreamed I would become a doctor one day, but the truth was that I wanted to be a gardener. Iria would let me help her in the garden and I would watch with wonder as seeds placed in the ground and gently watered sprouted into beautiful plants with some care. But when I was 9, I became aware of what would slowly lead up to the invasion of Poland.

Rumors were spreading that Hitler was threatening to take over our country. My father did his best to shelter us from what he feared would be he worst, but like falling snow, the troubling signs slowly began to appear. Since our town was so close to the Poland-Germany border, many of our Polish neighbors began to declare themselves Germans.

I started to see posters plastered everywhere. Signs saying things like "A Poland Free of Jews is a Free Poland", "No Dogs, No Jews" and others with caricatures that portrayed Jews as hideous, deformed troll-like thieves and misers who spread disease. Father began to see fewer people at the shop. I went from a friend on a Friday, to a 'Dirty Jew' on a Monday and got into fights with other children at school. We were quite secular, really, hardly ever practiced our faith and I couldn't understand why people would want to pick on us just because of our religion.

I came home late from school one day, nursing a black eye and a sore ear. I had won a fight with a boy at school, but his older brother hit much harder. The teacher had scolded me and kept me back after class, even though he had started it. I made it home to see my tenth youngest sister, Soonya, vigorously scrubbing the wall of the house. She told me to go inside and get ready for dinner, but I still saw the blood red swastika.

Dinner was usually a pleasant event, where we all talked and laughed about the day. But tonight, there wasn't much we wished to talk about and we mostly just sat there and quietly ate our food. I looked around, everyone was so unhappy. I finally couldn't take it any more and I blurted out:

"It's not fair! If people didn't know that we were Jewish, they wouldn't treat us like this!"

Some of my sisters gasped. My third eldest sister Anna reprimanded me, saying "Hush, Quatre. We are Jewish, be proud of who you are."

"I know, but I was just saying-"

"If you spend your whole life wishing you were someone else, you will never realize how special you are. Now eat your dinner."

That was about the most conversation we had that night. Iria had been silent the whole time. But I think my words had an effect on her, because a few days later she and my father presented a stack of papers and distributed several to each of us.

"What are these?" asked Soonya. Father explained a plan he and Iria had come up with in the event of an emergency.

"Children." He began. He hadn't called us that in a long time. "You're all that I have in the world and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if anything happened to you. Iria and I found a document forger and I had him make up names for all of us. Memorize your other names, then give me your papers and I will bury them in the corner of the garden nearest to the chimney. If anything bad happens, I want you to find as many of your siblings as you can, dig up your fake papers and run. Don't tell anyone about this."

I asked Iria about the papers. She explained to me how she heard on the radio that Germany and the Soviet Union had signed something called a Nonaggression Treaty.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's where they agree not to attack each other."

"If they're not going to fight, then why is Papa so worried?"

"He's worried because they probably agreed not to fight so they can take over our country. Don't worry, if anything happens, I will keep you safe."

* * *

I didn't think about those papers for a few more weeks until I experienced my first air raid on September 1, 1939, when I was 10 years old. As I walked along the street, I heard an odd droning noise and looked up to see German Bombers. It was the first time I had ever seen a plane that wasn't a toy or in a book. Buildings just a few blocks away tumbled to the ground and fires began right before my eyes. I stood there, stunned as people ran past me, until a man grabbed me by the arm and I began running too, not knowing where I was going to go.

"Run faster, boy! You want to end up in the hospital?" The man barked. Those words sent a jolt through me as if I had been hit.

The Hospital! My Sisters!

By the time I made it there, the hospital was in chaos, but at least it was intact. My older sisters hurried about to help as many of the injured, but they just kept coming in. I did my best to calm my younger sisters, who had been walking towards the family shop when the bombs hit. Injured soldiers started coming in after a few hours with horrible stories about the fighting. The German's bombers and strong tanks, along with their advantage of surprise had overwhelmed the lightly armored tanks of our troops. A few days later, we learned that the Germans and Soviets were closing in. My father had gone missing and my older sisters planned to go help treat soldiers on the front lines. After digging up the false papers and burying some of our most valued personal affects, my 8 youngest sisters and I were put on a train that was going east to Radom, where our aunt and uncle lived. At the end of that month, I had become Thomas Moremor and Poland ceased to be a country.

Our aunt and uncle had taken Germans aliases and moved to a small apartment. It was quite crowded and we didn't have a lot of money. Things got so bad that we were reduced to begging on the street for the winter. When spring came, we wandered the streets looking for work because the schools were all closed. My aunt and uncle became quite thin since we had depleted their stores of food over the winter and whenever they were able to buy food, they always fed us first. But we were still better off then most since no one knew we were Jewish; others were being rounded up without warning and many people in our area had disappeared altogether. Rumors spread about a sealed off area in Glinice and of Jews being herded into the nearby countryside and shot. Soldiers stood on every street.

As much as I missed my father and my older sisters, there was one spot that I did enjoy in Radom; the gardens of an old hotel where the soldiers were quartered. Whenever I had time, I would go and admire the vines that crept up the wall and the lovely flowers in their beds. People who about the hotel paid little attention to the flowers, but to me they meant so much. One day I ran into the gardener, a kindly old man who had noticed me admiring his work. He had been developing a back problem and asked if I would like to help him for a part of his wages. All through the summer, I worked hard pulling up weeds from the grass, loosening up the soil, pruning hedges and dead branches, watering the flowers. I didn't earn very much money and went home late in the evening, covered in dirt and exhausted, but the money I earned helped my family to survive. When winter came again, I begged the cook, who the gardener had introduced me to, for scraps to take home.

One warm day in spring of 1941, Iria came back. She looked pale, sick and tired, but she was alive. Everyone came out to greet her, it were as though she had come back from the dead. It was a bit odd at first when I had to become accustomed to her calling me Quatre, it had been a while since I had answered to my real name. After a while Iria and I simply began calling each other by our assumed names. She called me Thomas and I called her Jana, just to be safe. She told me of how she had treated soldiers off in East Prussia, then eventually left under the cover of darkness, hiding from soldiers and searching for us. She had gotten separated from the rest of my sisters and had no idea where they were.

A number of months after my sister reunited with us, I was about to leave the hotel with scraps from the cook when I first met the Major. No matter how much scraps I took or how much I worked with the gardener, there never seemed to be enough food to feed my relatives and my sisters. It was the middle of a bitter winter and I was quite weak that day, the only thing I had had that mourning was a bit of thin broth. As I walked out the gate, I went by a soldier and as I looked up I realized from his style of uniform and his medals that he was of high rank. He suddenly turned his head and looked back at me with a harsh glare from blue eyes that gleamed like ice and I froze.

"What are you looking at?" He demanded in a harsh voice like a growl from a bear.

For a moment I just stared back at him, then all of the overworking of my body and not eating nearly enough to sustain it finally caught up with me and I felt myself falling into the darkness.

I came to on a bed inside the hotel. I sat up and saw another man in the room. He was of high rank as well, but he wasn't the officer that I had fainted in front of earlier. He was quite young for an officer, with reddish brown hair and handsome features and high cheekbones, though his eyebrows were a little scattered at the ends where they should have tapered and he carried himself with great dignity.

"What happened?" I asked, careful to speak in German.

"I happened to glance out from the lobby and saw my Commander Zechs, speaking to a young boy just before he fainted. I came out and commented that he must have frightened the boy to death. He simply replied that he thought he was faking it and walked off. No one else seemed to care so I brought him upstairs to recover. How are you feeling?"

"Much better now, thank you, Herr-"

"Major Treize Kushrenada."

I gave the Major my false name of Thomas Moremor and he seemed rather concerned about my health. I explained my large family and our situation, being careful not to reveal too much. He seemed genuinely concerned about my well being.

"Thomas, I am to be stationed in Ternopol soon and I was looking an aide. Perhaps, if you if you wish to travel with me-"

"Certainly, Herr Major!"

* * *

I leapt at the chance to earn more money to help my family and even convinced him to bring Iria as well, though he knew her only as Jana, of course. The Nazis wanted to move troops closer to the Soviet border, intent on wresting from the Soviet Union the very land they had once handed over to them. Everything was arranged and starting in April of 1942 Iria began to manage the slave workers in the laundry who had been rounded up by the SS. I helped her out in between cleaning offices and clearing away meals. After a while, Iria and I tried to speak to the workers, but our German was quite good and with our blonde hair and blue eyes, we looked very much like what the Nazis held up as the ideal, Aryan race.

Most didn't trust us, they thought we were trying to watch for any signs of rebellion, but I did manage to gain the trust of a few workers. A young gypsy named Trowa managed to convince his friends, Heero, Duo and Wufei that I could be trusted after I passed along messages that I overheard in the mess hall as I cleaned up tables and took away dirty dishes. The word would then spread among the other workers about when to expect raids and other trouble and the few people who were able to visit their families in the nearby ghetto were able to pass the information along despite the heavy security.

Just over a year into this routine, Treize informed me that he had bought a villa just outside of Ternopol and requested the Iria and I move his things there before going there ourselves to maintain it. We acted pleased and for some reasons we were but for other reasons I was quite upset about this turn of events. What would become of my friends?

But when I saw the villa, I came up with a daring plan that I didn't tell anyone, not even Iria. The villa was quite large and I was to stay in the upper room at the end of the hall. Treize had given Iria the basement, which was big enough to hold several people. I proposed the idea of sneaking them out of the back door of the army complex. They could then make their way through the forest and to the villa, where Iria would let them in and we could hide them in the basement; they readily agreed.

That morning, after most of the soldiers were gone, I had taken a large laundry cart and pretended to take the dirty bedding from the cots. But in between this, I managed to sneak the others into Treize's office, hiding them under the sheets. I had nearly completed my plan before the SS soldier had surprised me.

I checked the back door that I wanted to sneak my friends out of. I found it locked and quickly decided to steal the Major's keys, let them out and then put the keys back before he noticed they were gone. This seemed easier said then done at first. But then Treize suddenly stumbled into his office, looking quite upset. He had just learned that a close friend of his had been killed on the front lines. He began drinking some brandy he usually kept locked in a cupboard.

He continued to drink and ask me to pour more brandy for him. As I poured more and more, he began a slurred conversation of sorts with me, rambling on about the time he had spent with has friend and how handsome I was and reminded him of his daughter who he hadn't seen in some time, then mumbled something inaudible about some secret he simply hoped that his wife would never learn about before passing out on the couch. I arranged him so he was lying on his side before taking the keys from his desk. I helped my friends out of the duct and let them out to the back.

Telling them my sister's real name so she would let them in, I wished them luck and safe passage before they disappeared into the night.

Some more stuff to note: The treaty between the Soviet Union and Germany was signed on August 23, 1939. Poland had Germany to the west and the Soviet Union to the east, so they didn't have much of a chance. Britian and France didn't help them even though they declared war 2 days after the attacks at the start of September. Poland was completely taken over and divided on October 5. The Nazis intended to kill the people of Poland along with the Jews and started rounding up Polish Jews around November 1939.

Radom is a large city that was in the middle of Poland during the war and it still exists today, but it's nearer to the east end of Poland since the borders were shifted west after the war. The Soviet Union originally occupied it starting September 9, 1939, until the Germans turned on them near the end of 1939 and took over the rest of Poland around the summer of 1941.

I'm also picking chapter names from the few things I've read and seen that have Jewish characters, and if you chase most of these readings down, you'll probably see that most of them don't usually portray Jewish people in a particularly nice way. To read about the biggest prick you could ever imagine, I suggest Mordechai Rischler's 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravtiz' (He's a great author, but if you ask me, this novel just plain sucked). I took this chapter's title from the first words of Genesis in the sacred Jewish text, The Torah (The Old Testament for Christians).

Damn, this chapter was a lot longer. I'm sure someone out there isn't going to like me writing this, but so what? I put as much effort into this as almost any professional writer, and is about taking risks, challenging convention and being creative. At least, that's what it should be about.


	3. Chapter 2: The Hidden Stars

Chapter Summary: Quatre saves Iria from a Nazi officer's advances as he struggles to keep the others hidden.

Quatre04: All right! Another reviewer! dances

Misanagi: Wow, you're still reading. Thanks for the multiple reviews. I guess I wind up writing the stories with 'niche' interest in my attempts to avoid so many clichés that everyone else seems to have used. (i.e. stick all the guys at one of Quatre's safe houses/city full of vampires with hunters/random high school/colony that didn't get blown up in the war, add lemon and stir.) Been there, done that, got bored.

Sabrina-fowler: Sigh So quick to judge. China joined the Allies since they were at war with Japan. You'll see in this chapter how Heero ends up as friends with the other characters. The R rating? Yeah, that kinda shows up here. Trust me; I already know all the origins of their names.

(blank): Haven't really received any negative feedback yet. But accuracy is usually a sign that someone put a lot of effort into what they were doing.

Author's notes: Okay, Zechs is a bastard, graphic violence and Quatre angst. I've warned you, so I'm not in the mood to hear any wimps come whining to me afterwards, got it? No 13x4 yet, not for a bit anyways. Yet another long chapter here, enjoy.

Chapter 2: The Hidden Stars

Treize spent the entire night in a drunken, fitful sleep. The only thing I could do was quietly arrange a cot nearby and make sure that he stayed on his side, as Iria had taught me to do if someone were drunk. I lay on my cot, quietly hoping that the others made it to the villa safely and that Iria would let them in and both my problems would be solved.

You could certainly see why I didn't want to leave the compound; I didn't want to abandon my friends, but I'm sure that you want to know why Iria and I were so happy to leave. Well, I didn't feel safe for a moment in that compound. Most would think that as a servant of a Major, I would be well protected, but most things in life are never as simple as they seem.

Major Treize was not German, he was Russian. His family was part of the nobility, the elite class that had ruled until the Communists took over in the early 1920s. Although nearly all his family had moved to Germany and he spoke perfect German, the soldiers in the compound still considered him a foreigner. He also had many disagreements with his second in command, Zechs. I think Zechs really resented taking orders from Treize. The son of a poor German hat maker, Zechs had fought and bled hard for his rank, while Treize had attained his mostly because of his family's connections. That's not to say he didn't have any good leadership qualities, quite the opposite. But Zechs felt he surely would have outranked him had he not had the blind luck of being born to a man who had been richer then his father.

The two of them were also different in their manners too. Treize was more detached from the soldiers, whom he had never met before being stationed in Ternopol, he enjoyed delicate food with brandy by himself or with me in the room. Zechs was friends with and had fought alongside many of the other soldiers before he had been promoted, he was content with beer and whatever food was available in the mess hall. I also thought that Zechs was far crueler. Treize treated his orders like work; it was something that needed to be done. But when Zechs gave an order to kill, he did it with the same pleasure that a housewife has in crushing a mouse or cockroach. Or maybe I was just seeing him this way, since I spent more time with Treize. I had to remind myself that they were both, after all, Nazis, who would have thought nothing of putting a bullet in my head if they ever found out who I truly was. In any case, this rivalry was the main reason that Treize had decided to buy the villa, so he only had to deal with Zechs during the day.

If this had been the only trouble I ever experienced, I would not have cared if I stayed or left. Zechs was civil when I was around, and visitors and soldiers simply ignored me unless they wanted me to get something for them. But I also knew that it wasn't in the best interests of my sister to stay. Iria, unmarried with gentle features, curly hair and a pretty figure turned heads whenever she left the laundry room. Soldiers didn't care that she was 27, she was still pretty and she caught the attention of one soldier in particular; a large man named Otto. Even though he was a good friend of Zechs, fiercely loyal to Treize and kind to Iria and I, the thought of him with my sister still made me shudder.

Treize awakened the next day before I did. He gently woke me and asked what had happened the night before.

"You were drinking last night, Herr Major."

"I know that, tell me what I said."

"Nothing of consequence." I replied, a bit taken aback by this strange request. But he was adamant.

"Tell me what I said!"

"You talked about your wife, and daughter, your friend, you said I was handsome, that's about all I can recall that made any sense." I stammered out.

"I didn't say anything else, or hurt you, did I?" he asked.

"No, sir."

He promptly calmed down.

"That's fine, then." He said as he gently stroked my hair. His gesture reminded me of my father so much that I actually felt sad for a moment. After I told him that all his things had been moved to the villa, he requested that I go there and help Iria the clean the house and he would arrive in the evening. As I walked towards the house, I suddenly felt nervous all over; did they make it there safely? Did someone see them? Did Iria even let them in? I wished I had planned their escape better, it had been so hasty and impulsive that there had been so many things which could have gone wrong.

I was so relieved when I opened the door to find everyone safe and helping Iria to clean the house. Trowa stood guard at the kitchen window, Heero helped Iria with the dishes as Duo and Wufei dusted and swept.

"We're in God's hands now, and in Quatre's." said Duo. Their faith in me made me blush.

They hid in the basement when Treize came in that evening, the house had been cleaned from floor to ceiling, the table was set and dinner was right on time. He was very impressed; the house had been quite old and filthy when he had first seen and bought it.

"I'd say that you both worked at the pace of four people." He said.

'Or six.' I thought to myself with a smile.

Treize went to the compound during the day and we waited for about a half hour after he left before Heero, Duo, Trowa and Wufei came out from their hiding place in the basement to bathe, eat breakfast and help Iria tidy the house. I worked on the garden since it was too risky for the others to be outside and one person always watched the kitchen window in case anyone came unexpectedly. A couple of days after we moved into Treize's villa, Otto dropped by and approached me as I worked in the garden.

"Is Jana in?" he asked.

"I, um-" I stammered. I didn't want to tell him yes and let him in, but I couldn't look him in the eye and lie either. Otto saw how uncomfortable I was and laughed.

"I'm not going to harm you, Thomas, I just want to say hello to your sister. Look, I brought some flowers for her."

I quietly nodded and he went in, my stomach fluttered as he opened the door. Iria talked to him at the door for a bit before finally saying that she had a lot of work to do that day. He finally left and the others came out of hiding. Thankfully, Duo had seen him coming from the window and they had dashed into the basement before Iria opened the door. At least Otto hadn't looked inside or he would have seen the cloths, buckets, brooms and several cups of water scattered everywhere. That would have been difficult to explain.

But Otto refused to give up; he had fallen madly in love with Iria and kept dropping by unannounced when he had time. We began to worry that he might give us away. I agonized over what to do and after some close calls I finally told Treize about Otto, saying that I didn't trust him and wanted to protect my sister.

"I think I know what Otto is after, Thomas. I will make sure your sister doesn't come to harm."

Iria went back to Radom at the end of 1943 and my friends took the place of my family. A few days later when Otto knocked on the door, I answered and told him that 'Jana' had contracted tuberculosis and had left Ternopol for treatment. Otto left and never came back. In the days before vaccinations and medications were widely available, diseases like polio, typhus and tuberculosis often meant disability or a death sentence.

Safe for the time being and with time to spare since the five of us cleaned the house in no time at all, I got to know my friends better. I sometimes wondered if I would have forgotten who I was had I not rescued them, they were to only ones who called me by my real name and spoke to me in my native languange for a long time. We usually spoke in Polish, since it was the only language that Trowa knew. Duo, Heero and I spoke Polish and German, but their English was much better then mine. Wufei knew the most languages; he also spoke Polish, German and English, but he also knew several dialects of Cantonese, a language I had never heard before. Over time, they filled out, regained their health and told me how they had become friends.

* * *

Duo was the youngest and smallest of the group. He was about my height with unusual eyes; they were a deep violet and he had very long hair. The first time I had seen him, I honestly didn't know if he was a boy or a girl. He had grown up with his parents in Iowa, but when his mother died of cancer when he was 7, his father couldn't bear to stay in America. He took Duo with him when he went on assignment to Berlin, covering the Olympics. Duo remembered what a fun time he'd had since he hadn't known any better, but his father had seen though the deception and written a less then flattering article.

When his father started to receive threats, he began to travel and work in disguise; he dressed up as an old man and made Duo look like a girl by growing his hair out and braiding it. Duo told me with some embarrassment he felt a little confused about his gender for a while and wasn't completely sure that he really was a boy until he was about 9. He refused to cut his hair since it reminded him of happier times with his father, when he would have his hair brushed and braided and his father would tell him a story. The work finally became too dangerous for Duo to stay with his father and there were no other family members that could care for him. But his father was determined to cover what was happening in Germany, fearful that the truth would never get out. So he begged a close friend he had gone to University with to care for Duo. This man was Heero's uncle. Heero and Duo had only known him as Odin Yuy, since they couldn't pronounce his real name.

Heero was the illegitimate son of a Japanese man and an English woman. His frame appeared stronger then a Japanese, but more graceful then an English boy and he always seemed very quiet, unwilling to speak unless he really had to, with a barely noticeable sadness in his eyes. Neither of the families of his parents had wanted him and just when they were about to abandon him, Odin had stepped in at the last minute and asked to care for him. Odin had been educated abroad and had different ideas from his family, but his decision to take Heero had estranged him from them. Odin had settled into a job at the University in Warsaw, Poland and Heero and Duo went with him to the campus. Most of the children of other students at the University didn't speak to them due to Heero's mixed race and Duo's strange appearance.

One of the few children who they did play with was Wufei. His parents were from wealthy families in China. After his grandparents had died, his parents had both accepted an arranged marriage from their other relatives on the agreement that they both be allowed to study abroad together. His parents attended classes in the day and taught him in the evenings. Wufei had a very striking appearance; I had never seen such dark skin on a person before. To me, his dark eyes and sharp features made him look deep, honest and soulful.

About a week after my hometown had been first bombed, German troops had reached Warsaw. The speed at which they reached the University had taken their families by surprise. On that day, their parents had been planning to leave the University and go underground, when Wufei's parents had secretly gone through some of Odin's things and learned that he had once been a Japanese spy. Things escalated into a huge argument from there, until Dr. J, one of the professors, had separated them. Heero, Duo and Wufei had been sent off when the fight started and had started playing together on another part of the campus, when they saw the soldiers coming. Terrified, they hid and watched as everyone was rounded up and taken away.

They didn't come out for several hours, but when they did they found that everyone else was gone. They debated about what to do, then finally took what they could find and left. They wandered south for a few days when they met a caravan of Gypsies who had managed to hide out in the forests and countryside. The Gypsies took care of them, even though they themselves had very little. In the past, Trowa's troupe had made a living selling horses and performing acrobatic shows wherever they went. But by this time they didn't dare go into the open for fear of being caught.

Trowa was the tallest and oldest of us and didn't call himself a Gypsy; he referred to himself as a Roma. Even without his usual clothes, his green eyes, odd hair and slightly sun browned skin tone gave him a mysterious look. His caravan had fallen on hard times with barely enough food to eat. The caravan traveled south, but finally got caught at around the time I had reached Ternopol. They told me how they had been separated, into men, women, children, elderly and invalids. While they had been part of a group herded to the compound where I met them to work as slaves, they had watched as others had been put onto different trains, loaded until there was barely even room to breathe on transport cars not even fit for cattle. If any fell or tried to resist, they were beaten or shot dead.

* * *

I finally realized how lucky I had been to find a safe haven for myself and my friends. Ever since I had lost contact with my father, my life had been rather harsh, but for a time, things became very easy. I would wake in the morning, cook breakfast for Treize, then see him out the door. After waiting for about a half hour to make sure he didn't forget anything and suddenly come back, the others would emerge from the basement, eat something and help me clean the house with one person watching the window all the time. We would then sit and talk until the afternoon when they helped me prepare dinner, then hide before Treize came back. By the time Treize opened the door, he would find me sitting in the kitchen, reading a book from the study as dinner finished cooking and nothing seemed amiss.

But occasionally it was hard to stay hidden. Even though my family never really observed our religion a lot, we had still seen pork as unclean. But Treize really liked bacon and I had to cook it rather often for his breakfast. He never really watched me as I cooked it and I looked normal, but I wasn't used to the smell of greasy bacon and it made me feel quite sick inside. One day he noticed that I never cooked any for myself nor ate it, just eggs with toast, and he offered me some. I hesitated for a bit, then took several bites, hiding the pieces under my tongue. I then took a long time eating my breakfast and when Treize finally left, I spat them out. I could never understand why the others enjoyed it so much.

Hiding four other people without getting noticed was rather difficult. We couldn't forget that we were hiding in the house of a Nazi, right in the heart of conquered German territory. Occasionally, Treize would make a comment over breakfast or dinner, something like "Are you sure we're out of bread? I'm quite certain you got a whole loaf several days ago." Or "Thomas, please try not to use so much butter in the food, the prices are becoming higher." But he never seemed to suspect that anything was wrong. By fall of 1943, I had begun to wonder what would become of us; I knew in my heart that we couldn't hide forever. But Duo always cheered me up.

Duo loved playing with electronic items and we would often listen to his tiny radio that he had received as a present from a student at the University. Just before they had been captured, Duo had disassembled it and convinced the others to hide the pieces in the bottoms of their shoes. He had reassembled it and hidden it in his sleeve on the day that I snuck him out of the compound. We managed to pick up allied news broadcasts now and then, listening to stories, music and news. Duo felt sure that the Allies would eventually come and rescue us.

All this time, I usually thought about the threat of being discovered. The others eventually became relaxed and didn't worry about being found out. But during the few times that I did go to the compound after moving into the villa, or I went into town to buy food and when Treize would suddenly all me over to him, I always had the fear of being found out in the back of my mind. I didn't really try to think about the war that much, or what was going on around me too often. There weren't that many signs of the war when I walked about town, but there was one incident that finally made me realize the very real danger.

Near the end of that year, I was walking back to the villa with a fresh load of groceries. My mind was filled with thoughts or raking up the leaves and removing the dead flowers out of the garden so it would be ready again when the snow thawed at the end of winter. I also thought about what I would cook for the evening and smiling to myself about a joke Duo had told me the other day.

As I walked along the street, I turned and saw Zechs standing on a street corner. He saw me walking by, smiled and beckoned me towards him. As I approached him, my body felt numb as my mind swirled with questions. Zechs hardly ever left the compound, what was he doing on the street? Why was he so happy to see me? Did he know something about me?

"Hello, Thomas. Wonderful day, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come see these hidden cockroaches my men found."

There weren't any roaches. His men had just discovered and dragged from a house a group of escaped Jews and a terrified Polish family that had hidden them. Several of the Jews were about my age or a little older and the Polish family had several small children, crying and clinging to their parents. The soldiers flung them all up against the wall as Zechs looked on and gave the order.

"Fire!"

Time seemed to slow down as I heard the shots firing. I had never seen such an act of pure evil in my life before. I stared at the bodies, then glanced up at Zechs as he turned to me. I waited for Zechs to spit on me, to push me against the wall too as a soldier reloaded his gun. But it never happened. Instead, he took an apple from one of my bags and walked with the soldiers back to the compound, eating it with indifference.

I managed to keep my composure until I reached the villa, where I collapsed near the back door. I vomited on the grass and cried as the sound of the frightened young children echoed in my mind.

The cruelty of what I had seen wasn't the only thing that frightened me, what frightened me even more was the thought of what I didn't see. Surely that hadn't been the only time that Zechs or Treize had ever carried out orders like that. This realization caused me to have a horrible thought: was my family still alive, or had they been involved in killing my father or my sisters? What if that group I had seen killed were the last ones and I was the only Jew left on the face of the earth? Would I live through all of this, only to learn that there was no one else left and my life would have been without meaning?

My thoughts became too much to bear and I tried to look at the trees and the bulbs that I had left in the garden for next spring, but even the plants that usually comforted me seemed to taunt and remind me of my fears: they would sleep for a time, only to spring to life again in the new year with beauty and purpose. By now, the others had finally heard my crying and coaxed me to come inside the villa. I hugged Duo and told them what I had seen.

"I should have done something." I choked out.

"Don't blame yourself, Quatre, there's nothing you could have done. They would have just turned on you and then we would have been stranded here to get caught or starve to death." I think Wufei was trying to help me feel better, but his words just made me feel more helpless.

"My father always said to just do the best you can and leave the rest to God." Added Duo. This comment made Heero, who had been quiet the whole time, release bitter sentiments from his heart.

"There's no God, what kind of a God would let such things happen? What sort of God would create a nation that sentences us all to death just for being alive? Why would God have let my parents declare me impure and my soul damned before I even knew what I was? Why would he do nothing?" I think he wanted to say more, but the years of cruelty he had lived and the sight of me crying seemed too much and he started to cry too.

"God did something." Duo countered as I began to see tears forming in his eyes. "He sent Quatre to help us. If it weren't for him, we would all be gone by now. You mustn't cry Quatre, we'll all leave this place one day and go to America. My dad would love to meet you-", but he couldn't say any more because as we remembered all our families all five of us began to cry.

* * *

I didn't sleep very well after that incident for quite some time and I even felt a bit guilty for having access to a safe warm place with lots of food while I knew others were starving out there. After a few days, Duo decided to try and cheer me up by baking a cake, a real treat since things luxuries like butter and sugar were becoming scarce. I helped him put icing on the cake while Heero and Trowa happily licked icing off their fingers. Wufei volunteered to watch at the window, he found the icing too sweet. Duo talked about the idea of us all going back to America. It seemed like such a prosperous place, since he told us how everyone had a car, a television, a radio and a house with lots of nice things to eat every day. As he talked on, Wufei suddenly raced into the kitchen.

"There are soldiers coming down the path! Hide!"

Duo dropped the knife into the icing bowl and they raced into the basement. A moment later, I answered the door.

"Can I help you?" I addressed the two German soldiers as calmly as I could. I hadn't seen either of them at the compound before.

"Whose house is this? Who are you?"

"This is Major Treize Kushrenada's home. My name is Thomas Moremer, I'm his groundskeeper. What can I do for you?"

"We received a tip that there were spies hidden here and we have orders to search this address."

Author's Notes:

Decided to leave you hanging for now. If you haven't guessed it yet, this chapter's title is from the historical novel 'Number the Stars' by Lois Lowry. It's a good book, read it I don't know how many years ago.

When someone's drunk, you want to roll them on their side until they sober up. And it's not to stop them from swallowing their tongue; that's a myth, it's impossible to do that for real. It's to stop their tongue from closing off the top of their windpipe or to keep them from choking on their own vomit in the event that they toss their cookies when passed out. Delightful, huh?

Despite the objections of the international community Berlin, Germany won the Olympics in 1936. They became known as the Hitler Olympics. Hitler had assumed total control of Germany and assembled his war machine by now. Journalists were allowed to cover the Olympics, but before they did, Gypsies in the area were rounded up and out of sight in camps, anti-Jewish posters were removed and the area was cleaned up for a PR success and most people were fooled that there would be peace; few journalists saw through the illusion and German newspapers and radios were heavily censored. The Olympics were not held again until 1948.

The Warsaw University of Technology was founded in the 1800's and is internationally acclaimed. They had about 5000 students attending just before the war, and they even allowed in about a few hundred women. There are faculties in Mechanics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Architecture, Civil Engineering and Aquatic Engineering, with a faculty in Law added in 1933. The Germans reached Warsaw on September 8, 1939. Some teachers and students went underground around 1942, others went to fight and some even helped in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Official classes began again on January 22, 1945 despite being damaged in the fighting. Today the University now has about 30 000 students attending with plaques throughout the campus to commemorate students lost/ involved in events in the war. In those days, people who went to University often had kids, so the mother usually cared for the kids while the father attended University. Don't know how they managed without going insane, I probably would have.

The Gypsies refer to themselves as the Roma because they believe that their ancestors were driven out of Romania. Most wandered and earned a mostly living breeding and selling horses as well as put on performances before WWII. But they were associated with thieves and vagabonds due to their traveling lifestyle. They were the second largest ethnic group to be killed in the Holocaust.

Since travel and immigration were somewhat common by now, children of mixed race were born sometimes. In those days there was also a huge stigma against children born out of wedlock and kids of mixed race, they were usually shunned and some were even killed at birth.


	4. Chapter 3: A Pound of Flesh

Horisont: I'm glad everyone appreciates the research I put into the dates and events.

Misanagi: Well, just trying to keep you interested. We seem to have love/hate relationships with cliffhangers. They keep our interest yet we're dying to find out what will happen next.

Lionheart: Here to save your sanity, it's the next chapter.

Author's notes: 13x4 here and it's slight NCS, nothing graphic though. I can't really say much without giving it away. Wow, I've pushed some major luck here so far. Sensitive topics, graphic imagery, you guys are still unfazed. Okay, I'm about to push my luck again so I'm warning you again. If I hit a nerve, that's way too bad. I've already told you that you may be offended. Some of the characters share views or attitudes I have. I think I'm kind of like Heero in the last chapter. At best I'm indifferent to most organized religion, at worst I'm opposed to it. I hate any institution that demands blind obedience from its followers for reasons you'll soon see.

Chapter 3: A Pound of Flesh

I felt myself go completely numb as they said this. I couldn't have felt more shocked short of them saying "We know you are Jewish".

"Of course." I barely heard myself answer.

As they came inside, a dizzy, sick feeling washed over me. They didn't pay much attention to me. But I picked up on what they were saying to each other as they went upstairs.

"Major Treize's house? Why did they send us here?"

"Maybe we got the address mixed up."

"I checked it twice."

They carefully looked around the upper rooms for what seemed like an eternity. They worked their way slowly through each room, finally going into the basement. As they went in, I went over to the door and looked down the stairs. There was no sign of anyone down there and there were only a few places that they could have hidden; under the bed, in the closet or some old wooden chests. The two soldiers checked between the bookshelves and about the bedroom area quickly, poking their hands under the bed and not really looking around that hard. I slowly began to realize that they didn't really expect to find anything. Suddenly, one of them reached for the door of the closet. My heart skipped a beat as he opened it and quickly pushed old clothes aside, then slammed the door shut.

"There's nothing here."

As they came up the stairs, one of them stopped and looked at me closely, I wondered if he was going to say something like "I know who you are!" or some such thing. Instead he asked;

"Are you all right? What's the matter with you?"

"I don't feel very well."

That was no lie.

Suddenly, Major Treize came in through the door, glaring at the soldiers. He looked like he had been running all the way to the villa. I had never seen him so angry before.

"What's going on here? What do you think you're doing?" he demanded from them.

"Forgive us, Herr Major, we received a tip that there were spies at this address."

"We didn't find anything."

"I'm not surprised. Now get out of here."

The situation would have been laughable had it not been so serious, if that makes any sense. Imagine, a German Major being told that his house was being searched for spies. The Major was certainly not in a laughing mood. They quickly left. I promptly began to put everything back in order and clean up the dirt that had been tracked in, since they hadn't bothered to take off their boots. At least they would think twice before following up on any other tips about this house, I figured. I wondered if someone had taken notice of all the food I bought when I went into town, or a passerby had seen several figures in the window. But an enraged Major Treize had his own explanation for the search.

"Zechs was behind that somehow, I know it! He'll pay for this!"

* * *

Treize's mood had settled by dinner time after a few glasses of brandy. He had learned of the search just after the soldiers had been given the order and hurried to the villa. I felt concerned about the others down in the basement and wanted to see how they were doing, but I couldn't do it with Treize back early. My worry about them increased to the point where Treize suddenly asked if I was feeling all right. I assured him I was fine and kept on pouring him more brandy, hoping I could get him drunk just like I had back at the compound so I could check on the others.

"It's good that you're all right Thomas, I would have never forgiven myself if anything had happened to you. I haven't told anyone, it seems that this war is getting worse and worse for us, but I always look forward to seeing you to remind myself of goodness in this world. And stop filling my glass, I've had enough to drink."

He finally stopped his slurred speech and clumsily put his hand over his glass. This comment by itself didn't seem too odd to me, but for some strange reason it made me think of all the other times I had interacted with him. The affectionate way he had stroked my hair back at the compound, how he usually preferred no one else's company except mine when he ate, how he would give me things that were rationed or hard to find like tea and the occasional sweet, the way that he always trusted me enough to leave me in his house during the day with no one else around or how he hadn't hesitated to use his influence to protect my sister from Otto when I had asked for his help. I suddenly wondered what he thought of me as; a loyal servant, a friend, an adopted son?

I helped him up the stairs and into his room. The moment he fell asleep I wondered what my thoughts meant before I finally decided that I wasn't puzzling over anything of major importance and hurried into the basement. The others had all found rather cramped hiding places, so it took a while for me to help them out and stretch a bit. Heero had somehow fit himself into a medium size wooden chest, that the soldiers hadn't even bothered to open, probably figuring no human could ever fit in there. Wufei had tucked away under the bed that Iria had once slept on. Remember how I had seen one of the soldiers poking his hand around in the closet? Imagine my shock to find Duo and Trowa huddled in there, hiding under a pile of old clothes on the floor. They would have come face-to-face with the soldier had he removed one more layer of clothes.

"I think my guardian angel works overtime." Duo commented. For some reason we all found this comment really funny and laughed quietly to ourselves, enjoying our small victory.

* * *

Sometime after this string of good luck, I made a foolish mistake that cost me dearly. It was now early 1944 and the Soviet troops were pushing the Germans further and further back, approaching Ternopol. People were beginning to leave town and Treize was growing distracted as his problems grew. As for us, Duo and I didn't trust the Russians any more then we trusted the Germans and we began hatching an escape plan to avoid the fighting. Duo's father had been friends with members of several resistance groups, so we agreed to travel west and go join them. The thought of being able to help fight back rather then simply hiding and waiting for things to get better, combined with the faint hope of finding my family, whom I had lost contact with for quite some time, helped me feel renewed and gave me a sense of purpose. I did my best to hide my good mood and figured that Treize still didn't suspect anything.

One morning, during breakfast, Treize said to me "Thomas, I have a lot to take care of today and I won't be back until late tonight."

"Yes, Herr Major." I answered. This wasn't unusual; he had been coming back very late in the night quite often lately.

I waited a half hour and let my friends out of the basement like I always did. Duo jumped out and twirled as happily as a bird being released from its cage as he went to look out at the kitchen window. We laughed at his antics and for the first time in while, we all felt happy and confident that the war would be over and that we would find our families soon. Suddenly, Trowa, who was standing in the hallway, turned to the back door.

"Wait! Be quiet!" he cried out.

We all stopped laughing as the rest of us heard it too. Someone was unlocking the back door!

Heero, Trowa and Wufei raced to the basement, with Duo trailing behind them from the kitchen. In his panic, Duo tripped and fell, right as Treize flung the back door open. My heart stopped. There was dead silence as they stared at each other for a moment. Then Treize made the first move. He walked over, shoved Duo into the basement, locked the door with an old brass key, then grabbed me by the shoulder.

"After all I've done for you? How dare you betray me like this Thomas!" he shouted as he shook me. I thought he was going to hit me but before he could do anything there was frantic banging on the basement door.

"Quatre!" Duo screamed over and over.

"What?" Treize answered in confusion, as he let go of me.

"His name's Quatre! If you're going to kill him, at least call him by his real name!" Duo screamed back.

"If you value his life, then stay in there and be quiet." He called back and the banging stopped.

In sheer desperation, I threw myself on my knees at the Major's feet. Treize grabbed me and roughly dragged me into the kitchen. I knelt on the floor, trembling. I had failed them, we had been found. What could I do, run into the woods? I wouldn't have gotten far and even if I did escape with my life, how could I live with myself, knowing I had left four people I cared about deeply to a horrible fate? I hoped that maybe the Major would be merciful, but that seemed to me like a mouse hoping for mercy from a snake.

I suddenly heard a clinking sound and I flinched, too scared to look up. Treize was surely loading his gun, at least he might just kill us all quickly and be done with it, I figured. When I did get the courage to look up, I realized that he had grabbed his brandy, not his gun. He poured it and gulped it down as he looked at me.

"Quatre, is that your real name?"

I nodded, holding back tears.

"How long have you hidden them?"

"Since last summer."

Treize finished his glass and refilled it before he continued, never taking his eyes off me.

"Quatre, you know that were they to be found, we would all be dead?"

"Please, they're innocent, this war will be over soon." I tried to keep my voice steady, but my words ended in a sob.

"I know you're a good person." I forced myself to add, even though I didn't think it was true.

I would have said anything at that moment if it helped me. Treize continued looking at me. He finally put his glass down and helped me up.

"I suppose we all have our secrets, now, don't we? Yes, there are a lot of secrets in this world. I had no idea what you were hiding when I took the day off and came back without telling you." He mumbled to himself. Then he kissed me gently on the lips.

"Quatre, I will not turn them in, I will help you, but I won't do it for free. When I first saw you, I only thought of you as a child. But you've grown so much, I see you as a young man now. I will keep your secret, but only if you keep mine." I nodded quietly.

"I will tell you something I have never told anyone and if anyone knew of it, I would be killed."

I nodded again.

"I am a homosexual."

"I don't know what that means." I answered.

I'd never heard that word before. All I knew was that Treize was expecting me to do something for him.

"It means that I love you and I want you willingly, that is my price." He said as he continued kissing me.

"I'm only 15."

"I was 14 when I first slept with someone, he was a family servant."

"So that makes it all right?"

"Quatre, you have nothing else that I want. One night and afterwards, I will never tell anyone that your friends exist or that I hid them in my house."

"I'm also Jewish." I added, hoping that he might see me as tainted.

He sighed and held me gently. His response shocked me.

"I know what they say isn't true."

"Then why are you helping them?"

"Because if I refuse I will be shot and so will my family. All my life I've obeyed orders, I know nothing but how to follow orders, be they from my father or my superiors. I've done unthinkable things, Quatre, we both know it. Before you ask why, I do unthinkable things because it's just easier to do them rather then try and think of ways to not do them."

I'd resolved not to cry in front of the Major but after hearing this, it was so easy I finally gave up and wept on his shoulder. So that was the reason for all this misery, why so many have died, I thought. One gave orders and others just obeyed. Just like I would have to now, these numbing thoughts filled my mind as he led me upstairs.

* * *

I lay on my side with my back to Treize. I felt too ashamed to face him, I didn't like him being so near to me at all. I'd never even kissed a girl, I didn't know anything about sex. All I knew was that Treize had just done something very painful to me. Treize put the key in my hand and went to the bathroom.

'It's your own fault, you know. Stupid boy, you should never have thought you would be smart enough to trick him.' I thought to myself as I quietly left Treize's room.

I washed and dressed before going downstairs. As I approached the basement, I heard Duo reciting a story I had once heard. He was talking about King David after he had slain Saul, his former friend until they had betrayed each other.

"Behold Saul is dead, thinking to have brought him good tidings, I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own bed? Shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth?"

The irony of this passage struck me as I unlocked the basement door to find Duo reading the bible from the study out loud as the others knelt and prayed, even Heero.

I'd never seen anyone look so relieved before as they all rushed to greet me.

"What happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Is the Major still alive?"

"I'm all right, Treize says that we can stay for now." I answered. I couldn't bring myself to tell them how I had received his protection. We were safe for now, but my heart told me that this was only a final reprieve before the storm.

More notes: Okay, that was tough to write, but it wrestles a lot with good, evil, power, betrayal and all that other stuff. For those of you who actually read this, the bible I used passage is from the Old Testament, King James Version from the Book of Samuel II, Chapter 4:10-11. I plan to work on my other stories soon, so check those in the future too. Let's see anything else to add. Oh yeah, chapter title is from the Merchant of Venice, read it in Grade 9 English, found it okay.


	5. Chapter 4: The Merchant of Kielce

Chapter Summary: Quatre must either leave the villa permanently with the others or stay behind with Treize.

Horisont: Yeah, waiting sucks. This thing pretty much writes itself and I would have written this sooner, but life gets in my way.

Lionheart: No 'storm' yet, actually, next chapter. Here's there's more angsty- mushy-imagery stuff.

Misanagi: Well, Treize in general is a pretty complex character. On the one hand, he's slick, charismatic and refined. Then again, he's also a total egomaniac who bathes a lot and in the stuff I find and read, seems to really like teenage boys. Yikes 0o;

Merit Somnia: Yeah, I know it was sad. When Quatre's sad, you just get that 'awww' reaction, like you just saw a puppy or a little sweet old granny get kicked.

Sooti: I know I haven't updated in a long time and kind of feel bad about it. I am trying to find more time to write faster, but I want to make sure everything's in order and that the story is interesting.

LotisFlower: Glad that you enjoy it and yes, I have put a lot of effort into this.

Author's notes: I noticed that I've got the interest of the big Quatre fans around here. I didn't realize I wrote his perspective so well.

Also, I am very sorry that I took so long to do this chapter, but I do have a busy life and when I don't, I often have writer's block. I'm doing this totally for free, so it's not really a top priority and I still want to make sure it's damn good. Anyways, now that the filler's out of the way, on to what you all really want! The damn story!

Chapter 4: The Merchant of Kielce

An uneasy truce settled in the villa for a few days. Treize refused to speak to any of the others or even ask their names, he just quietly put maps on the desk in the study and started leaving provisions for us to carry. One night I heard shelling off in the distance. In the morning Treize spoke with me privately.

"Quatre, I have to dismiss you. I want all of them gone by the time I get back this evening."

"Please give us a few more days, we just need to-"I started to plead, but he cut me off.

"I'm being investigated for spying because of my Russian heritage. I've protected you for as long as I can, but I'm afraid that I no longer have the influence I once did. The fighting will reach here soon; You can stay if you wish, but the others have to leave.

"Then I'm going with them."

He paused for a moment. Then on a sudden impulse, he kissed me passionately on the lips. On the outside, I didn't respond, but it promptly brought me back to that horrible experience when I had accepted his bargain and I had an inward shudder. I still have nightmares about it to this day.

* * *

It was about Feburary of 1944 when Treize threw us out. We had some provisions, but the forest was thick and we became quite cold, wet and muddy. We pressed on through the Polish forests, traveling in a western direction using a compass. We had no idea where to go or what to do, just that we had to keep going. Our situation became more desperate as the days passed. After about two weeks, we were still able to melt the snow for water, but we were very low on food.

"I'm so hungry." Said Duo.

We hadn't eaten for almost three days. That was when we had eaten the last of our provisions, a scrap of old bread. We were exhausted and filthy. We hardly slept at all, constantly watching our backs for soldiers. Wufei was irritable, Duo wouldn't talk or laugh, he looked half dead. Heero stayed very quiet, but I saw the spark in his eyes fading and the grey circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. I had a bad cold that seemed to get worse every day even though Trowa was kind enough to rub my back whenever I started coughing and wheezing. As we passed a road sign pointing to a town called Kielce, Heero, Duo and Wufei suddenly recalled a woman who had worked on the campus as a maid who lived in that town.

"Maybe she can help us." Duo suggested.

"I'm sure she can, the question is, will she? She's just as likely to turn us in for some kind of reward." Wufei was reluctant to take the chance of going into a town, even though it was our best hope for food.

"In any case, how will we know the exact street she lives on?" Asked Heero.

"She showed me a picture of her home, I'll know it when I see it. And she mentioned the street it's on too."

Wufei still had his doubts, but by the end of the fifth day, when the town was finally in sight, he had no objection to a chance for some food. It's impossible to describe how agonizing it feels to go for days without eating. After covering up his face so he could pass as a girl, Duo and I snuck into town in the morning, while it was still dark. The others stayed behind in the forest, it would look too suspicious to have a large group walking about. We made our way up and down the streets, until he found the house and tapped lightly on the door. A small, plump, middle-aged woman answered the door.

"Who's there, what do you want?"

"Ada, it's me, Duo Maxwell, from the University. You were friends with my father, Nicholas."

"Maxwell's son? What are you doing here? Where's your father?"

"I don't know, can you please help us? We've been traveling for days and we haven't eaten for so long. My friend is very sick, we're desperate."

"Get out of here, you'll only cause trouble." Ada answered and prepared to close the door. Guess she decided the risk wasn't worth it.

But Duo wasn't about to give up on our best chance for some food and stuck his foot in the door.

"Ada, please! Just a little help, some food or water or even-"

"JEWS! THERE ARE JEWS ON THE STREET! POLICE!"

I grabbed Duo's hand and we raced down the street, leaving the little old lady screaming out of her door. We ran for about five or six blocks before we finally slowed down and looked around. It didn't seem like anyone had taken Ada seriously.

"Don't worry about it, she was always kind of senile anyways." Duo reassured me. I took some deep breaths to try to stay awake and calm down, but I broke into another fit of coughing.

We started walking again, pretending to be running an early morning errand or a boy and his girlfriend taking an early morning stroll. Suddenly, we heard footsteps behind us. We kept walking, but they seemed to be following us.

"What should we do now?" I whispered to Duo.

We turned a corner, but we heard the footsteps of the person behind us turning the corner as well.

"Stay calm, keep talking in German." He answered.

We spoke softly to each other in German and turned another corner. I was starting to panic as I heard the footsteps behind us catch up, before an old man passed by us.

He was just out for an early morning walk, he didn't even look back as we continued on in our direction. We had walked into a tiny courtyard, a dead end surrounded by a bunch of townhouses with balconies. We were just about to leave, when a female voice called out softly from the shadows.

"Amcha." The voice called out to me.

The word drew a blank stare from Duo, but I knew it was Hebrew for "Our Nation."

"Amcha." I answered.

"I thought you might be Jewish, I haven't seen you around these streets before." Said a dark haired girl as she emerged from her hiding spot. She had a covered basket on her arm.

"You both look hungry and tired, would you like to buy something? I accept more then just ration coupons."

She lifted the handkerchief to reveal milk, bread, sausages, hard-boiled eggs and other foods and I realized that she was part of the black market, selling goods that were rationed or illegal to trade like food and fuel. I quickly bought the whole basket from her using the German marks Treize had paid me with.

"How did you know that word? Are you Jewish?" I asked her.

"No, I have my sources." She replied. Then she turned to Duo and examined him more minutely.

"You make a very lovely girl."

Duo blushed a bright shade of red.

"You can't be too careful these days. We've been wandering for so long. Do you know anyone that could help us?" He asked.

"I think my supplier could hide you, as long as you paid her some money first. She has a farm, it's about a mile from here, down that road over there. Her name is Sally, just tell her that Hilde sent you."

* * *

"Where did you get all this food?" Asked Wufei when we returned. It felt good to eat again after so long.

"Quatre performed another miracle." Duo answered as he told the others about the farm we could go to and explained our good luck of meeting the black market girl. Everyone else tore into the food, but I struggled to nibble on a piece of bread. I knew I hadn't eaten for days, but I didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, my stomach hurt so much at that moment that I felt like I was going to vomit.

"Quatre, try and eat more." Duo coaxed.

"I'm trying, it's just that, I feel too cold to really be hungry." I fumbled for an excuse so they wouldn't worry about me.

"What are you talking about? You're burning with fever." Trowa commented as he wiped the sweat off my forehead.

I really was having the worst chills I had ever felt in my life, yet at the same time, my fever had become so bad that there were rivers of sweat running down my face.

"He has pneumonia. We need to get to that farm, right now." Wufei later told me how he had read about the disease in one of his father's books.

I tried to start walking, but by now I was weak as a sparrow and I could barely stand. Duo and Wufei each wrapped an arm around their shoulder as Heero and Trowa led the way. I did my best to walk, but my legs were giving out on me and I my chills were gone, replaced by a raging fever that was so bad I couldn't think straight. The only thought I had was that I had first started coughing soon after we had left Treize's villa.

I suddenly reached a horrible conclusion about my illness; Treize had given me some disease. It sounds strange now, but in my feverish haze, I had decided that the only explanation was that Treize had secretly given me some kind of plague after he had forced himself on me. I knew I was going insane, but I didn't care. I thought I had survived the worst, but I was still going to die miles from my home.

"It was Treize. Treize did it..." was the last thing that I remembered saying. Before I lost consciousness.

Author's Notes: Classes have started again, joy. Anyways, I do try to write whenever I have time, but I have to see how my time goes. I'm sure most of you know how hectic University life is.


End file.
